A whopping 16 women will back up from their ISPS HANDA Australian Open campaigns, while a strong men's field has also been assembled for the Port Phillip Open Amateur at Kingston Heath Golf Club.

The 72-hole stroke play event will be played from Thursday to Saturday with the top 16 men and 16 women to progress to the Victorian Amateur Championship match play rounds at Royal Melbourne Golf Club on Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th December.

The 16 women who rubbed shoulders with the likes of ISPS HANDA Australian Open champion Ashleigh Buhai and Australian major champions Minjee Lee and Hannah Green last week will be riding high as they take on the iconic Melbourne sandbelt for a second straight week.

Last season's Golf Australia Women's Order of Merit winner Justice Bosio will be looking to continue her impressive form after she finished in a tie for 11th at Victoria Golf Club last Sunday.

She will face stiff competition however from Karrie Webb Scholarship holder Caitlin Peirce, Jeneath Wong, Claire Shin and Jazy Roberts who all made it past the second cut and into the top 30 at the national Open.

Victorians Amelia Harris, Keeley Marx and Molly McLean will all be players to keep an eye on as the trio made the initial cut last week but were unable to progress to Sunday action, but they also have a strong record in their home state having won the Australian Interstate Teams Matches together earlier this year at Sorrento Golf Club.

On the men's side, Quinnton Croker and Jye Pickin tee it up after representing Australia at the Nomura Cup (also known as the Asia-Pacific Amateur Golf Team Championship) in the Philippines last month.

Lukas Michel has also competed internationally this year at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship and the US Mid-Amateur Championship (which he won in 2019) but his playing schedule is limited due to his work in golf course design, most notably at the Seven Mile Beach project in Hobart.

Max Charles is a name that jumps out amongst the contenders meanwhile. The Kingston Heath member will seek to make the most of his local knowledge and he has impressed this year in making the quarter-finals of the R&A's Amateur Championship and for his US college Boise State University.

Play at the Port Phillip Open Amateur begins on Thursday 8 December. Follow the scores here.